Steam or gas turbine.



No. 636,867. Patented Nov. l4, I899. E. G. TERRY.

STEAM 0B GAS TURBINE.

(Application filed Dec. 22, 1897.)

(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet I.

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No. 636,867. Patented'Nov. l4, I899. 'E. 6., TERRY.

STEAM 0R GAS TURBINE.

(Application filed Dec. 22, 1897.) m0 Model.) 3 Sheets'8heet z,

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No. 636,867. Patented Nov. l4, I899. E. C. TERRY.

STEAM 08 GAS TURBINE.

(Application filed Dep. 22, 1897.)

20/2/755555 fiver/far "NITED STEAM OR GAS TURBINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 636,867, dated November 14, 1899. Application filed December 22, 1397. Serial No. 663 ,032. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD O. TERRY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Hartford, county of Hartford, and'State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Steam or Gas Turbines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in steam or gas turbines; and the main object of my improvement is to provide for discharging the steam or gas from the wheel into a chamber which utilizes the ois oi'va remaining in the steam after issuing from the wheel to diminish the resistance of the external pressure of atmosphere or condenser.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a central vertical section of my wheel, partly in elevation, on the line y y-of Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a sectionalview, partly in elevation, of the major portion of the same on the line w as of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a partial vertical section in a plane a little to the left of the line x in Fig. 1. Fig. 4'is an enlarged sectional view corresponding with Fig. 3, partly in elevation, showing a somewhat different form of myinvention. Fig. 5 is a central vertical section on the line 8 s, Fig. 6, of a portion of my turbine as applied to a side discharge-wheel and Fig. 6 is a developed circumferential section of a portion thereof on the line 2a of Fig. 5.

A designates a frame upon which the case B C is mounted, the part B of said case being provided with suitable bearings 6 for the shaft 7 of the wheel D, Fig. 1. Said case is also provided with an annular chamber 8 for the bucket portion of the Wheel. The buckets 9 are upon one broad side of the body of the wheel in order to enable said buckets to run in the annular chamber, as best shown in Fig. 1. The buckets are what I call U shaped -that is, the spaces between the buckets are in the form of a series of the letter U, arranged with the bottom of one U in the mouth of the adjacent U, as shown in Figs. 2 and 4.. The case in its part C is provided with an annular steam-chamber 1O inside ofthe wheel or bucket chamber 8. Between these chambers 8 and 10 is aseries of gradually-enlarging chambers or inlet-passages 11, having ports or jets 12 at their inner ends,

the wider or enlarged end of said chambers or passages opening directly to the buckets blocks 15 of the of the wheel. The ports or jets of these chambers are opened and closed by means of pointed pins 13, arranged to slide in suitable bearings. They may be moved by any suitable mechanism. A simple way of moving them is to provide their heel ends with an arm 14, that can be received in suitable recesses in gate-ring 16, the outer edge of which is indicated by a broken circle in Fig. 2. Said ring is provided at one edge, its inner edge, as shown, (see Fig. 3,) with a series of teeth forming a circular rack 17, that may be engaged and driven by a pinion 18 on the shaft 19, which shaft extends to the outside of the case and may be provided with a handle 20 or attached to a governor.

Outside of the wheel are the expanding chambers 21, Figs. 1 and 2, or the expanding chamber 22, Fig. 4, through which chamber or chambers the steam passes in going from the wheel to the atmosphere or condenser. In practice, however, the wheel may have a hood surrounding it and connected with a pipe leading to a condenser or to the atmosphere. Whatever may be the diameter of the wheel it is best that the steam after leaving the wheel shall travel approximetely the same distance before reaching full atmospheric or condenser pressure. It is also best that these chambers outside the wheel shall not enlarge too abruptly, and therefore in Fig. 2 I have shown the walls or divisions 23 between the chambers in the chamber-flanges 24 as thickened toward their outer ends, so that said chambers, measured transversely,as in Fig. 2, are about twice as wide at their outer ends as at their inner ends. If these divisions were not so enlarged in Fig. 2, the chambers would expand too rapidly. In a larger wheel,with chamber-flanges of proportionally less width, as in Fig. 4., there is no need of thickening the divisions indicated by broken lines at 23 in the chamber, because these lines show that the enlargement toward the outer edge of the chamber-flanges is not so rapid as it is in Fig. 2 with the divisions thickened toward their outer ends. As the steam issues from the U-shaped spaces between the buckets at the outer edge of the, .wheel it passes tangentially out through the chamber or chambers. In Fig. 2 it is clear that the steam or gas thus discharged from the wheel enters and passes through gradually-enlarging chambers. It will also be seen that if thin diaphragms were set between the chamber-flanges, as indicated by broken lines in Fig. 4, then the steam or gas would pass out through gradually-enlarging passages. In Fig. 2 the divisions between the chambers by being thickened are useful to prevent too sudden enlargement of the chambers; but in Fig. 4 no divisions are required for any such purpose. It will also be seen that the steam will practically take the same tangential course and practically pass through a gradually-enlarging chamber even ifthe diaphragms are omitted, and in some cases I may employ the chamber-flanges without any divisions between sections thereof. In this case the chamber-flanges form what I term an enlarging chamber, and when the divisions are present I would call the space between the flanges enlarging chambers. In all cases I desire to employ a gradually-enlarging chamber or chambers for the wheel to discharge into. I prefer to always use the jets and gradually-enlarging chambers leading to the wheel in successive continuous portions of the wheel. This is clearly the case when the jets and gradually-enlarging inlet-chambers extend continuously around the wheel, as illustrated in Fig. 2. In some cases I may omit a part of the pointed pins, ports orjets, and gradually-enlarging inlet-chambers, and such a construction is shown in Fig. 4, in which there are three successive pins, jets, and inlet-chambers in a continuous portion of the wheel. In practice I would have a like number of the same in a diametrical portion of the wheel, and there might be any desired number of such continuous portions provided with a series of successive pins, &c.

My improvement is applicable to a side-discharge wheel-that is to say, a wheel in which the general direction of the discharge is parallel to its axis instead of at a right angle theretoand Figs. 5 and 6 show so much of a turbine as is necessary to illustrate such application. B is the main portion of the case containing the jets or ports 12 and graduallyenlarging inlet-passages 11, and 2% is one of the flanges that form the enlarging chamber into which the wheel discharges. The other flange 24 of this chamber is fixed in position to any stationary support. The Wheel D is arranged with its buckets 9 and U-shaped working passages between the passages 11 and enlarging chamber formed by the flanges 24 and 2 t the same as the bucket portion of the wheel is arranged between its inlet-passages and the gradually-enlarging chamber or chambers into which the wheel discharges in the form of turbine first described. A gradually-enlarging chamber for a central-discharging turbine to discharge into can be formed by making the chamber-flanges the same shape in cross-section as the flanges 24: and 24: in Fig. 5. In case of a compound wheel the gradually-enlarging chamber or chambers for the wheel to discharge into will evidently be so placed as to receive the discharge from the last bucket portion of the complete wheel.

In all forms of my improved turbine the gradually-enlarging chamber or chambers are located between the wheel and the external pressurethat is to say, between the wheel and the atmosphere or condenser. By my improvements the atmospheric or condenser pressure is largely removed from the inner ends of the gradually-enlarging chamber or chambers into which the wheel discharges, so that the steam or gas flows at greater speed through the wheel.

It is apparent that some changes from the specific construction herein disclosed may be made, and therefore I do not wish to be understood as limiting myself to the precise form of construction shown and described, but desire the liberty to make such changes in working my invention as may fairly come within the spirit and scope of the same.

I claim as my invention- 1. A steam or gas turbine and a graduallyenlarging chamber or chambers the confiningwalls of said enlarging chamber meeting and coinciding with the outlet of the dischargepassages of the wheel without any abrupt enlargement therefrom, said chambers being located immediately beyond the wheel and between the said wheel and the external pressure, substantially as described.

2. A turbine having U-shaped passages opening tangentially at their opposite ends, and a gradually-enlarging chamber or chambers into which said turbine discharges, the confining-walls of said enlarging chamber meeting and coinciding with the outlet-passages of the Wheel without any abrupt enlargement therefrom, substantially as de= scribed.

3. A turbine with its bucket portion between gradually-enlarging inlet-passages leading to the wheel and a gradually-enlarging chamber or chambers leading directly from the wheel, the confining-walls of said enlarging chamber meeting and coinciding with the outlet of the discharge-passages of the wheel without any abrupt enlargement therefrom substantially as described.

4. A turbine having a series of inlet-passages, a series of pointed pins operating to open and close said passages, a ring connected with said pins for operating them all together, a wheel having U-shaped passages and a gradually-enlarging chamber or chambers into which the said wheel discharges, the confining-walls of said chambers meeting and coinciding with the outlet of the dischargepassages of the wheel without any abrupt enlargement therefrom, substantially as described.

5. A turbine having U-shaped passages, a succession of inlet-passages arranged closely together for having the discharge from several adjacent inlet-passages merge into each other for acting on the wheel as one cont-inuous jet, a succession of pins acting within said inlet-passages to open and close them, and means for simultaneously operating the said succession of pins, substantially as described.

6. A turbine having upon the inlet side of its bucket portion, chambers that gradually enlarge as they approach the wheel, jets or ports at the narrow ends of said chambers, and a chamber or chambers on the outlet side of the Wheel that gradually enlarge as they recede therefrom and into which the wheel discharges, the confining-walls of said e11- larging chamber meeting and coinciding with the outlet of the discharge-passages of the Wheel without any abrupt enlargement therefrom substantially as described.

7. A turbine having U-shaped spaces between its buckets a series of tangentially-arranged inlet-chambers that gradually enlarge as they approach the Wheel, and a series of oppositely-inclined tangential chambers that gradually enlarge as they recede from the wheel and into which the wheel discharges, the

confining-Walls of said enlarging chamber meeting and coinciding with the outlet of the discharge-passages of the wheel without any abrupt enlargement therefrom substantially as described.

8. A turbine having U-shaped spaces between its buckets, a series of tangentially-arranged inlet-chambers extending along the entire inlet side of said buckets and gradually enlarging as they approach the wheel, and a series of oppositely-inclined tangential chambers that extend along the entire discharge side of the buckets and gradually enlarge as they recede from the wheel and into which the Wheel discharges,the confining- Walls of said enlarging chamber meeting and coinciding with the outlet of the dischargepassages of the wheel Without any abrupt enlargement therefrom substantially as described.

EDWARD O. TERRY.

Witnesses:

H. E. HARRINGTON, EUGENE S. LYTLE. 

